Yes [Special Edition]

Pet Shop Boys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 21, 2009)
• Original Release Date: April 21, 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Special Edition
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B001RTP48G
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,310 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Love etc.

2. All Over The World

3. Beautiful People

4. Did You See Me Coming?

5. Vulnerable

6. More Than A Dream

7. Building A Wall

8. King Of Rome

9. Pandemonium

10. The Way It Used To Be

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. This used to be the future

2. More than a dream (Magical dub)

3. Pandemonium (The stars and the sun dub)

4. The way it used to be (Left of love dub)

5. All over the world (This is a dub)

6. Vulnerable (Public eye dub)

7. Love etc. (Beautiful dub)

Editorial Reviews

Pet Shop Boys, Yes. This limited-edition 2CD package includes an extra CD of "dub" versions of the songs, specially produced and mixed by the acclaimed Xenomania.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes!, April 22, 2009

By 

Chris D. (Ocean Grove, NJ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Yes (Audio CD)

"Yes", the 10th studio album from the Pet Shop Boys, is a solid album and a pleasant surprise after the somewhat disappointing "Release" and "Fundamental". Is it the best thing since "Very"? Quite possibly. There really isn't a bad song in the bunch. Politics take a back seat this time around, and the lyrics focus on more personal issues - love and relationships (both the successful and failed variety) Johnny Marr returns to contribute some guitar (and harmonica) work. Some of you may be disappointed to hear that there is no huge, overblown production like "Go West" this time around (I confess to being mildly disappointed myself).

My personal favorites (so far): "All Over The World" (reminds me of a more beat-heavy "Se A Vida E"), "King of Rome" (a somber ballad in the vein of "Do I Have To?"), "Pandemonium" (an upbeat stomper) and the odd closer, "Legacy" (as another reviewer noted, similar in feel to something off of "Behaviour"). I was a little disappointed with "This Used To Be The Future" on the bonus disc - it's nice to hear from Phil Oakey, but something about the song just didn't work for me. The dub mixes are pretty much what you'd expect.

A couple of notes about the package itself: the set comes in a folding glossy cardboard case that - for some reason - is 6" long rather than the standard 5.5", as I discovered when I tried to put it into the storage compartment in my car's dashboard and it wouldn't fit. I can tell that the extra half-inch is going to cause me annoyance. It also comes with a booklet containing the lyrics to all of the songs and the production credits.

If you have stuck with the Pet Shop Boys to this point, I don't have to urge you to pick this one up - you probably already have. If you are new to the Pet Shop Boys, you could do worse than start with "Yes". Thanks Neil and Chris!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes The Boys are back with their best effort since Behaviour, April 10, 2009

By 

Lost In 80's "Lost In 80's" (Melbourne, AU) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yes (Audio CD)

Yes the Pet Shop Boys are one of the very few bands that have delivered consistently good pop records for 25 years. And yes, Yes is one their best albums they have made in that time, dare I say it at least as good as Behaviour. There's great depth here, fantastic dance tracks, majestic melancholy and just brilliant pop music that fit almost as well into today's scene as it would have done 2 decades ago.

There's much for 80's music fans to love; the infectious Did You See Me Coming would not be out of place on a New Order record; Vulnerable could have been lifted straight off Behaviour, but equally Love etc and Pandemonium amongst others could have come at any point since. Amazingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, all the songs on Yes are excellent. My favourite track is King Of Rome, it has that Jealousy feel to it; melancholy in spades; Neil's haunting voice losing nothing in all this time.

20 years ago Yes would have hit the number 1 spot with ease, many of tracks would have got to number 1 in the singles chart too had they been released. Would that be the case now, I wish - where is quality today, so lacking in an "Idle" world?

This record deserves a wide audience. If you have not discovered the Pet Shop Boys start here and then buy Behaviour, then Please, Actually and Fundamental. You will be rewarded.

If you can grab the extraordinary 2CD limited edition Yes, etc. as it seems to be disappearing fast. The bonus disc contains a brilliant duet of Neil and Philip Oakey on This Used To Be The Future - it's PSB meets Human League to brilliant effect. The remaining dub versions of More Than A Dream (Magical dub), Pandemonium (Stars & Sun dub), The Way It Used To Be (Left of Love dub), All Over The World (This is a dub), Vulnerable (Public Eye dub) and Love etc. (Beautiful dub) are all outstanding.

For me the purchase of West End Girls at a record shop off Oxford Street back in the late 80's led to a journey around the world which lasted 20 years and continues today. Yes takes me back over that time, it is on my iPod now and I know I will play it repeatedly over the coming weeks and months.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes please, actually, April 8, 2009

By 

Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Yes (Audio CD)

I've seen a number of magazine reviews of Pet Shop Boy's new CD, "Yes," claiming that it's their best since "Nightlife" (1999) or even "Very" (1993). I was skeptical at first; however, after repeated listens, I have to agree. Now, I love pretty much everything PSB do, but "Yes" is pretty spectacular, with a heavy emphasis on lush vocals and strings layered over dance beats, which is the sound that made me such a fan of PSBs back in the 1980s.

The first single is the upbeat "Love Etc." The song is about the hollowness of living the material life without love; certainly a well-worn topic, but the boys manage to craft a solid single. The song has a catchy if repetitive chorus - You need more/ you need more/ you need more/ you need loooooove. I prefer the verses, with background singers chanting phrases like "don't have to have" leading into Neil enumerating various trappings of money, such as "a house in Beverly Hills." I have to admit that I don't find "Love Etc." to be the most original PSB single, but I do like it. In the U.K., the boys continue to have solid success. "Love Etc." debuted at #14 on the singles charts, continuing their trend of top 20 hits (only two of their singles have ever peaked lower - "Was It Worth It" in 1991 and "Numb" in 2006).

My favorite song on "Yes" is the lush, mid-tempo "King of Rome," which reminds me of some of their slower moments from the "Behaviour" era, such as "Only the Wind" or "To Face the Truth." The melody is beautiful and Neil's vocals positively throb with melancholia. I also love the danceable "All Over the World," which is probably the most stereotypically PSB song on the CD. Sampling Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker," the song is upbeat, joyous, and a bit over the top in the tradition of other great PSB anthems. It's another one of their (very successful) attempts to put "Debussy to a disco beat" - well in this case it's Tchaikovsky. The third song I'd like to highlight is "Beautiful People." Not many fans seem to be talking about this song, but I think it's an amazing track. Neil's vocals have rarely sounded better, and the song is fresh while also blending perfectly into the other material on "Yes." By the way, the second single is rumored to be the extremely chipper "Did You See Me Coming?" which features a very catchy chorus, although it's not one of my favorite songs.

Much has been made of the fact that "Yes" was co-produced by British hit-meisters Xenophobia (Sugababes, Girls Aloud). I honestly don't know enough about their work to know how much "Yes" sounds like their typical output. However, "Yes" sounds like a great PSB CD, so fans needn't worry that "Yes" tries too hard to sound ultra-current. In fact, "Yes" most reminds me of 1990s "Behaviour," which also happens to be one of my favorite PSB CDs. Neil and Chris have never, imo, put out a bad CD, so I knew I'd like "Yes." However, I'm finding that I'm listening to and enjoying it far more than I did "Fundamental" and "Release."

The second disk ("Etc.") contains remixes of several songs from "Yes" (More Than a Dream, Pandemonium, The Way It Used to Be, All Over the World, Vulnerable, Love Etc.) and one new song. The remixes are uniformly good and quite varied. The new song is "This Used to be the Future," which according to some sources was originally scheduled to be included on "Yes." It would have sounded right at home, although it's a bit more electro than some of the other music. The song features vocals by Neil and Chris as well as Phil Oakey of Human League! They sound great on the song, giving it a weird futuristic feeling. The higher purchase price for the two-disk "Yes Etc." is well worth it.